Well, ok, it was actually Fava beans and a very drinkable Piesporter recently made by Rick (my sweet) -but I liked the movie line better.

I ‘ve had Favas on my mind since I read a post showing a beautiful Fava Bean and Cherry salad made by Danielle over at Habeas Brulee . I find the photos and recipes posted there to be very inspirational.  AND Danielle was kind enough to point me (a complete stranger but a huge admirer) in a good direction when I was thinking of starting this blog….so MANY THANKS, you are incredibly generous!!!!

On to dinner… I bought some Favas and had fun separating the beans from their fuzzy pods and removing the bean’s outer covering -which reminded me of a scuba diver’s wetsuit for some reason.

After I released the tender inner green beans I decided to sauté them with some minced shallots, leeks and garlic. I was thinking Beurre Blanc type flavors so I threw in some Sherry vinegar and lemon juice and sautéed everything together for a few minutes to reduce the liquid before adding some Life in Provence traditional French churned butter with sea salt crystals that I snagged a couple of days ago at my local gourmet market. I added a bit of the above mentioned Piesporter wine and when everything was steamy and aromatic I added a pound of shelled and deveined 20-25 count raw shrimp. They cooked quickly, turning pink in the hot sauce.  The picture above was taken at this point in the process.

Then I added about a 1/2 Cup of heavy cream and about 2 Tablespoons of some Spinach/Toasted Walnut Pesto that I had made earlier. I served it over Occhi di Lupo pasta with some freshly grated parmigiana reggiano and lots of freshly ground black pepper.  We added a nice butter lettuce salad with a simple vinaigrette (Sherry vinegar, Dijon, shallots, EVO salt and pepper) and pine nuts.  A a nice large glass of the chilled and refreshing Piesporter rounded the meal out nicely.

All together it made a fabulous dinner on the porch tonight. Ooh-la-la!